Yarn moistening and winding apparatus



Oct. 24-, 1950 LL 2,526,849

YARN MOISTENING AND WINDING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 50, 1945 mvENToi [es/er Kain 4521i ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 24, 1950 YARN MOISTENING AND WINDING APPARATUS Lester Campbell, Wcstfield, Mata, assignor to Foster Machine Company, Westfleld, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application August 30, 1945, Serial N0. 613,466

14 Claims. (CI. 91-51) The present invention relates to conditioning and winding yarn, or the like, into a package form as for example, on a cop or cone.

In the winding of yarn it is customary and common practice to treat the yarn which is usually done by moistening it with oil or some other treating liquid. This is done prior to the winding operation and is for the purpose of improving the running qualities of the yarn in the winding operation and in such subsequent operations to which the yarn may be subjected.

The treatment or moistening of the yarn raises difliculties and the present apparatus has as its primary object the overcoming of the difficulties which arise in respect to the tension to which the yarn is subjected. More particularly the invention has as its object the maintenance of a substantially uniform tension on the yarn throughout the entire winding operation.

In the past, and also in the present machine, the yarn is wound upon a core, cone or cop and these are rotated at a constant speed throughout the winding operation. As a consequence the linear speed of the yarn increases due to the constantly increasing circumference of the package or cone as the package is built up. This increase in speed of yarn travel is extremely great but is of course dependent upon the size of the finished yarn package. It has been found that the speed increases several hundred percent and reaches an increase of four hundred percent or more.

It is not only desirable but is essential that the treatment liquid be applied uniformly to all parts of the yarn throughout the winding operation and to the accomplishment of this it has been necessary to adjust or control the rate of application of the treatment liquid in some manner to compensate or provide for the increase in the speed of travel of the yarn. This has ordinarily been accomplished, and in the present machine is accomplished, by increasing the area of contact of the yarn with a moistening device as the speed of travel of the yarn increases. This will be more particularly described hereinafter.

It has been found that less tension on the yarn is needed and is desirable when the yarn is traveling at a high speed than when it is traveling at a lower speed. It is accordingly therefore desirable and advantageous to prevent or hold down an increase of tension on the 'yam as the speed of travel of the yarn increases. With machines as heretofore known and usedthe tension upon the yarn is continuously increased as the speed of the yarn is increased. This has been due largely to the fact that the angularity of the path of travel of the yarn through the guides forming a part of the machine and the angularity of the path of travel of the yarn over the moistening device has increased along with the increase of speed of travel of the yarn. This condition or situation has prevailed by reason of the fact that in the accomplishment of the application of a regulated or substantially uniform quantity of treatment liquid to the yarn throughout the increasing speed of travel thereof the angle of travel of the yarn has been progressively increased with the increasing speed of travel of the yarn. In the present invention proper and efficient application of the treatment liquid to the yarn is accomplished without any increase in the angularity of the path of travel of the yarn, that is to say, the angularity of the path of travel of the yarn is maintained constant. As a result of this an increase in tension upon the yarn is held down for the reason that it will be obvious that an increase in the angularity of the path of travel of the yarn means an increase in the bend of the yarn in the guiding means of the apparatus and this increase in bend obviously results in increase in yarn tension.

The foregoing do not constitute all of the benefits, objects and advantages of the present invention, others of which will appear from the following description when read in the light of the accompanying drawings or will be obvious therefrom or may be ascertained from a practice of the invention.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a view in side elevation of an apparatus suitable for practice of the invention, the trough or reservoir for the yarn treatment being illustrated in vertical section.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary front view of the apparatus appearing in Fig. 1. i

The invention can be practiced with winding machines of varied forms in that it is only essential that the machine embody the broad constructional features which will hereinafter be referred to and described, and which, in one form, are illustrated in the particular winding machine appearing in the accompanying drawings. Accordingly the winding machine could well be of the type illustrated and described in the H. W. Doughty Patent No. 2,355,634dated August 15, 1944 or could be a winder, known as the Foster Precise Winder, which is widely known and used in the trade and is a product of the assignee company of the referred to Doughty patent.

The winding machine illustrated in the drawings embodies a cone or cop A upon which the 3 yarn D is wound to form what is commonly and likewise hereinafter referred to as a package. In accordance with long established practice this cone is rotated about its supporting spindle I at a constant speed. The drive means for the cone forms no part of the present invention and is accordingly not illustrated. The winder is conventional in having a traverse back B provided with an' extending arm 2 which is pivotally mounted as at 3 upon the frame part P of the winding machine. The traverse back is provided with a yarn guide 5 which is suitably reciprocated longitudinally of the cone or cop A, in the usual and conventional manner, for guiding the yarn as it is wound about the cone. The traverse back through engagement with the cone or package or in some other suitable manner is swung about its pivotal support. The circumference of the cone or yarn package constantly increases as the package is built up and obviously engagement between the traverse back and the package will cause a rotative movement of the traverse back about its pivot. Viewing the machine from its front or end, that is looking at the outer end of the pivot 3, the traverse back is rotated in a clockwise direction. A weighted arm 4 is rigidly connected to the traverse back for movement therewith. This arm extends downwardly and serves as an actuator for the movable yarn guides, as will hereinafter more fully appear.

In addition to the foregoing a conventional winding machine of the type described is provided with one or more fixed yarn guides 6, a pinch tension device C, a yarn cleaner 1, a guide pin 8 and a drop wire 9. The pinch tension device is in the form of a pair of light spring steel strips and II suitably individually supported on the winding machine by stub shafts or spindles I2 and I3. As will most clearly appear from Fig. 2 of the drawings the steel strips engage the yarn at the point I4. In practice the tension exerted upon the yarn by the pinch tension device is substantially constant irrespective of the speed of travel of the yarn through the device.

With the foregoing understanding of the cooperative elements of a winding machine which are used in the provision of an apparatus for practicing the present invention the means for moistening the yarn with a conditioning liquid will now be described.

A receptacle or reservoir E carries yarn treatment liquid 15 which may be oil or any other suitable liquid and is of trough-like form so as to rotatably receive the outer peripheral portion of a moistening disc F which is supported upon and rotatable with a horizontally disposed shaft [5 which is driven by some suitable power means, not shown. The moistening device is illustrated as being in the form of a flat circular disc but it is to be understood that it is not absolutely essential that the moistening device partake of this particular form. As the disc is rotated through the liquid in the reservoir the disc picks up liquid and this is applied to the yarn in the manner now to be described.

The yarn is furnished from some suitable source of supply, not shown, as for instance a bobbin, cake or spool, and passes upwardly between the two fixed guides 6. The yarn then travels through a pair of spaced movable upper and lower guide eyes I! and [8 the exact nature of which will be hereinafter described. It is sufiice at this moment to say that these guides cause the yarn to pass over the flat end or side face of the moistening disc so that the yarn is moistened by the cal treatment liquid which has adhered to and is carried by the face of the moistening disc. From the upper guide eye I! the yarn passes through the pinch tension device C, then over and past the cleaner 1, the guide pin 8, the drop wire 9 to the yarn guide 5 of the traverse back and onto the cone or cop.

When the winding operation is first started the chord of contact between the yarn and the moistening disc face is comparatively short and is designated WX. As the linear speed of the yarn increases by reason of the increasing diameter of the yarn package as said package is built up, adequate and proper moistening of the yarn would not be accomplished through such a small area of contact, or short length of contact, between the yarn and the moistening disc. Accordingly it has been the practice to increase the chord of contact between the yarn and the moistening disc. This has been accomplished by having the lower guide eye I1 fixed and making the upper guide eye movable in a direction toward the axis of rotation of the moistening disc, that is, to the right in respect to Fig. 1 of the drawings. Such a movement of the upper guide eye l8 will obviously increase the chord of contact between the yarn and the moistening disc but it will also increase the angularity oi the path of travel of the yarn through the guide eyes I! and I8 and over the moistening disc. Thus as the linear speed of the yarn is increased so is the tension upon the yarn increased. This is true because the bend of the yarn in the guide eyes is increased because of the increase in the angularity of the path of travel of the yarn. This increase of yarn tension is highly undesirable because the tension upon the yarn is also increased by other causes the nature of which is such that they cannot be eliminated. These comprise a greater area of contact between the yarn and the moistening disc and the increase in tension which is inherent in the speed-up in the travel of the yarn. The increase in the area of contact of the yarn with the moistening disc increases such adherence as exists between the yarn and the disc due to the presence of the treatment liquid and naturally also increases the frictional contact between the yarn and the disc. Additionally there is a greater length of moist yarn between the lower guide and the upper guide.

The present improvement provides for the maintenance of the same predetermined angularity in the path of travel of the yarn throughout the entire winding operation and thus eliminates the increase of tension upon the yarn which is present in prior devices, as has been explained, because of the increase of the angularity of travel of the yarn with the speed of the yarn and the application of the conditioning liquid to a greater length or area of the yarn.

To the accomplishment of this improvement both the upper and lower yarn guide eyes I! and H are made movable and are moved automatically to increase the chord of contact between the yarn and the moistening disc gradually and progressively as the diameter of the yarn package increases and the speed of travel of the yarn increases.

A bracket G has extending parallel upper and lower arms 19 and 20 through which loosely passes the vertically extending portion 21 of a rod which has a horizontally extending portion 22 terminating in the upper before-referred to yarn guide eye I8. The lower guide eye I1 is carried by or forms a part of a rod 23 which extends upwardly at an inclination and is suitably rigidly, and if desired adjustably, connected to the horizontal portion 22 of the before-referred to rod as at 24 and held by set screw 24'. The guide eyes are disposed in spaced vertical planes with the result that the yarn is bent as it passes through them and travels at an angle of inclination to the ver.

tical. At the start of the winding operation these guide eyes would be disposed as illustrated in full lines in Fig. 1 of the drawings so as to cause the yarn to have a chord of contact with the moistening disc represented by the characters WX.

As the speed of the yarn increases this chord of contact will be gradually increased until it equals that represented by the characters YZ. This increase in the chord of contact is brought about in the following manner. A bell crank R is pivotally mounted as at 25 upon a suitable support 26 and has one of its arms pivotally connected as at 21 to a rod 28 which is rigidly secured as at 29 to the extending weighted arm 4 of the traverse back. The other arm of the bell crank is slotted as at 30 to receive the end 3| of an arm S which is pivotally mounted as at 32 on the bracket G. The other end of the arm S is slotted as at 33 to receive a pin 34 carried by a sleeve 35 secured by its set screw to the vertically extending portion 2| of the rod which carries the upper guide eye l8. Preferably the pin 34 would be connected to the rod 2| to provide for adjustment of the pin along the rod. The construction immediately before described will impart a downward movement of the upper guide eye as the weighted arm 4 of the traverse back is rotated in a clockwise direction as circumference of the yarn. package is built up. This vertical movement is illustrated in dotted lines in Fig. l and'because of the connection of the lower guide eye with the upper guide eye an identical vertical movement of the guide eyes is accomplished. It will be obvious that as the circumference of the yarn constant, by which is meant that the angle remains the same, irrespective of the position to which the guide eyes are moved to increase, or for that matter decrease, the chord of contact of the yarn with the moistening disc. As a consequence of this a predetermined angularity of direction of the path of travel of the yarn is maintained in its passage through the guide eyes, and its passage past and while engaging and being moistened by the moistening disc. By making the connection 24 between the lower guide eye and the upper guide eye and the position of the pin 34 on the rod 2| adjustable any predetermined angularity of travel of the yarn can be obtained and once the position of these parts are set said angularity will be maintained throughout the operation of the apparatus.

The matter of tension upon the yarn is of lill great importance and the accomplishment of the maintenance of a predetermined angularity of the yarn while at the same time providing for an increase in the area or length of contact of the yarn with the moistening device, all as explained, constitutes a decided advancement and improvement in the art.

The inventive concept can be embodied in an apparatus which need not be constructed specifically as illustrated and described and accordingly the invention is to be limited only within the scope of the hereinafter and following appended claims.

Iclaim:

1. In an apparatus for moistening and thereafter winding yarn or the like into a package form where the apparatus is of the type in which the linear speed of the yarn increases as the circumference of the package increases, a moistening disc, a pair of spaced guides through which the yarn passes in its travel to the package, said guides causing the yarn to engage and pass across the flat end face of the disc, means to simultaneously move both of said guides to cause a greater length of the yarn to engage the end face of the disc, and means causing said guides to at all times maintain their respective relative positions in respect to one another to maintain a constant angularity in the path of travel of the yarn through the guides and over the moistening disc.

2. In an apparatus for moistening and thereafter winding yarn or the like into a package form where the apparatus is of the type in which the linear speed of the yarn increases as the circumference of the package increases, a moistening disc, said disc being rotative about a horizontally disposed axis, a pair of spaced guides through which said yarn passes in its travel to the package and which cause the yarn to pass across the end face of the disc, said guides being positioned out of alignment one with the other and being rigidly connected to'maintain their respective positions in respect to one another, and means to raise and lower said guides in respect to the rotative axis of the disc to alter the length of yarn contacting said disc as the yarn travels to the package.

3. A construction as defined in claim 2 wherein, the upper guide is positioned above the horizontal axis of the moistening disc, said vertical guide movement moving the yarn between the guides in a direction toward the axis of the moistening disc, and the means for moving the guides operating in coordination with the increasing circumference of the yarn package to progressively increasingly lower the guides as the circumference of the yarn package and the consequent linear speed of travel of the yarn increases.

4. In an apparatus for moistening and thereafter winding yarn or the like into a package form where the apparatus is of the type in which the linear speed of the yarn increases as the circumference of the package increases, a moistening disc, said moistening disc being rotatable about a horizontal axis, an upper guide and a lower guide arranged out of alignment and through which the yarn passes in its travel to the package and which operate to cause the yarn to engage and pass across the flat end face of the disc, the upper guide being positioned above the horizontal axis of the moistening disc, a rigid connection between the upper and lower guides for maintaining said guides at all times in the same respective positions to one another, a guideway for the upper guide for guiding said guide during movement thereof in a vertical direction, said vertical guide movement moving the yarn between the guides in a direction toward the axis of the moistening disc, and means for progressively lowering said guides as the circumference of the yarn package and the consequent linear speed of travel of the yarn increases, whereby the length of yarn contacting the moistening disc is increased while the angularity of the path of travel of the yarn through the upper and lower guides and across the mois tening disc is maintained constant.

5. In an apparatus as defined in claim 4 wherein, an actuator is moved as the circumference of the yarn package increases, and said actuator constituting the means for lowering the upper and the attached lower guides.

6. In an apparatus as defined in claim 4 wherein, an actuator is moved by the increasing circumference of the yarn package, the movement of said actuator being rotative, means converting the rotary motion of said actuator into a vertical movement, and said last named means having connection with the upper yarn guide for lowering it and the attached lower yarn guide.

7. An apparatus as defined in claim 2 wherein, the connection between said guides is adjustable to selectively position said guides in respect to one another to obtain a predetermined angularity of the path of travel through said guides.

8. An apparatus as defined in claim 2 wherein, the means for raising and lowering the guides is adjustable to selectively determine the lowermost position to which said guides are moved.

9. An apparatus as defined in claim 2 wherein, the connection between said guides is adjustable to selectively position said guides in respect to one another to obtain a predetermined angularity of the path of travel through said guides, and the means for raising and lowering the guides is adjustable to selectively determine the lowermost position to which said guides are moved.

10. In an apparatus for moistening and thereafter winding yarn or the like into a package form where the apparatus is of the type in which the linear speed of the yarn increases as the circumierence of the package increases, a rotary device having a flat moistening face, a pair of spaced guides through which the yarn passes axis 01' said rotary moistening face to cause a greater length of the yarn to engage the face of the moistening device and means causing said guides to at all times maintain their respective relative positions in respect to one another to maintain a constant angularity in the path of travel of the yarn through the guides and over the moistening device.

11. An apparatus as defined in claim 10 wherein, one 01' said guides is an upper and the other a lower guide and the guides are arranged out of alignment, the upper guide being positioned above the rotational axis of the moistening device, the movement of said guides being in a vertical direction, and the downward movement of said guides moving the yarn between them in a direction toward the axis of the moistening device.

12. An apparatus as defined in claim 10 wherein, an actuator is provided and is moved as the circumference of the yarn package increases, and said actuator having operative connection with and constituting the means for moving the guides.

13. An apparatus as defined in claim 10 wherein, a rotatably movable actuator is provided and is moved by the increasing circumference of the yarn package, means converting the rotary motion of said actuator into a vertical movement, said last-named means having connection with the yarn guides and constituting the means for moving them, and the said guide movement being in a vertical direction.

14. An apparatus as defined in claim 10 wherein, a movably mounted actuator is provided and constitutes the means for moving the guides, said actuator operating in coordination with the increasing circumference of the yarn package to progressively move the guides to progressively increase the length of the yarn in engagement with the moistening device as the circumference of the yarn package and the consequent linear speed of travel of the yarn increase.

LESTER CAMPBELL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,053,306 Williams et al. Sept. 8, 1936 2,357,079 Brown Aug. 29, 1944 

